


it's just a costume

by ganymede_elegy



Series: tumblr prompts [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, as usual, beleaguered Robb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:14:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26842693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ganymede_elegy/pseuds/ganymede_elegy
Summary: “Sans, you've... you've gotta pick a different costume.”She's just come downstairs after putting the finishing touches on her outfit and she's going to grab a bottle of water before Margaery gets here to pick her up. Robb and his annoying friends are in the kitchen and Robb is staring at her with wide eyes. Beside him, Theon is staring at her as well, but at her costume, and Jon is determinedly looking away.
Relationships: Jon Snow/Sansa Stark
Series: tumblr prompts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1955872
Comments: 115
Kudos: 445
Collections: Jonsa Autumn Drabbles 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> for the Tumblr drabble event, prompt Tradition

“Sans, you've... you've gotta pick a different costume.”  
  


She's just come downstairs after putting the finishing touches on her outfit and she's going to grab a bottle of water before Margaery gets here to pick her up. Robb and his annoying friends are in the kitchen and Robb is staring at her with wide eyes. Beside him, Theon is staring at her as well, but at her costume, and Jon is determinedly looking away.

“But I'm a cat every year.”

She's not sure why Robb's making such a big deal about this. It's become almost a tradition, she's been a black cat for Halloween every year since mom first dressed her up as one when she was four. She's literally been wearing this specific costume for three years running, she's not sure why Robb is _now_ protesting. Especially when she's finally in high school and gets to go to a high school party!

Robb stutters and stammers as she stands with her hands on her hips, waiting for his response. Ok, so maybe the dress is a few years old and out of fashion, but what does Robb care about fashion? And why is Theon suddenly so interested in it? It's just a black dress with a cat tail sewn into the back and a headband that she'd glued felt cat ears to _years_ ago. She's painted whiskers on her face like normal and she's actually quite proud of the new addition to her makeup this year (Margaery had taught her how to wing her eyeliner and apply fake eyelashes and they feel heavy on her eyelids, but she likes the way it looks).

Is it because she's not wearing her normal black tights? She tried to put them on, but found they had a run in them, so she's having to go without last minute. And her normal black ankle boots had looked wrong against her bare legs, she'd had to put on the only other pair of pure black shoes she owns (a pair of heels she'd bought with Marg but never worn). Does that ruin the effect? And why is Jon's face so red?

“Just... go as something else,” Robb finally manages to get out, and she rolls her eyes and taps her nails on the counter (another addition this year – pointy fake nails that she'd painted silvery white like claws).

She really doesn't know why Robb's being so weird. Is it because he's in college now? Costumes aren't cool anymore? She _swears_ she saw a photo on Theon's instagram of them at a costume party just last week.

There's a knock on the door and she leaves the kitchen to answer it. Marg is there and she scans Sansa's costume and gives a whistle.

“Hold on, let me grab my purse,” she turns back to the living room to find that Robb has followed her out, looking red in the face and like he's about to have a full breakdown. “Gods, Robb, it's just a _costume_ ,” she huffs, looking around for where she set her purse, finally finding it on the back of the couch.

“Yeah, Robb, it's just a costume,” Theon mimics with a smirk. Behind them, half in and half out of the kitchen is Jon, managing to look at everything in the room except her. She finds it strange, Jon's never had a problem _looking_ at her before. Sure, maybe they aren't as close as he is to her other siblings, but he's never refused to make eye contact with her before (and honestly, it hurts in a way she hadn't expected).

Robb's mouth opens but whatever he's about to say is interrupted by Arya clomping down the stairs, her combat boots thudding on every step. Arya takes one look at her, raises an eyebrow and says “wow, boobs ahoy.”

The room seems to freeze around her and she turns to look at her reflection in the black TV screen and...

_Oh gods_

She'd been so thrown by the tights and shoes situation, she hadn't realized how _small_ the dress was now. She hadn't remembered the boobs she'd magically seemed to grow over the summer or the few inches she'd shot up, it hadn't even crossed her mind. And when she'd looked at herself in the mirror, she'd just been so pleased with how well she'd done her eye makeup that...

“Please change,” Robb croaks, eyes to the ceiling. Theon is grinning. Jon is, if possible, even redder.

“Don't change,” Marg cries. “You look _hot_.”

“Don't give in to the patriarchy,” Arya nods at Margaery. “But _do_ get out of here before mom and dad see you, cause dad _will_ have a heart attack.”

Marg pulls her out of the house and the last thing Sansa sees before the door shuts behind her is Jon finally looking at her, _straight at her,_ and when their eyes meet she feels a strange stirring in the pit of her stomach.

_Weird._


	2. it's just a costume 2: electric cataloo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for the tumblr Halloween event. Prompt: clothes

She's not sure why she does it, why she stomps to her closet and digs through the boxes to find it. When she does, the dress smells a little musty from sitting in storage for so long, the wire in the tail is bent, and the ears are falling off the headband. She hot glues the ears back on while wiping away angry tears with the back of her hand, she washes the dress, she bends the tail back into shape before reattaching it.

_Jon's bringing Ygritte_.

Robb had said it so casually at dinner. Of course he did, he has no idea.

He has no idea that she's spent the last six years watching Jon date all the wrong girls. That she's spent the last six years dating boys that weren't him just to try and get over him. Ever since that Halloween when she last wore this costume, there's been _something_ between them, she's not crazy. He'd avoided her for a while, started dating Ygritte, then Dany, then Ygritte again, then Val, then _fucking Ygritte_ again. In high school she dated Joffrey and then in college, Harry.

Neither of them were _him_.

(Both of them _sucked._ )

But this year Jon was single. Single and going to Robb's Halloween party (well, _Jeyne's_ Halloween party). Sansa's home from school for the weekend and she had been so excited to go and have fun with everyone in Robb and Jeyne's new apartment. She doesn't know what she was expecting, but it wasn't for Jon to decide last minute to get back together with _Ygritte_ of all people.

She's not crazy, there _is_ something between them. She knows there is. And in August, right before school started again for her, she'd kissed him when she and Arya had been helping Robb and Jeyne move. He'd been carrying boxes up and down stairs all day and had stopped to drink some water in the kitchen while everyone else was downstairs. In a moment of weakness, she'd kissed him, right there in Robb's apartment, but then everyone came back in and they hadn't been alone again. Then she'd gone back to school and he... he never called. He never even _texted_. Is she crazy?

She's not sure what she's hoping to prove by wearing this old costume. When she puts the dress on the next night, it's still too short and too tight, but she's worn much worse out clubbing with Marg. She draws her whiskers and cat nose with black eyeliner and maybe puts on too much makeup and perhaps the fishnets with her heels is a little extra, but she doesn't care.

“Yowza,” Arya drawls from the doorway of her room. Arya's dressed like the wrestler Strong Belwas (thankfully with a shirt under the vest). She doesn't respond and eventually Arya sighs. “I thought you looked pissed when Robb brought up Ygritte last night.”

“I don't know what you're talking about,” she responds in her haughtiest voice, the one that usually makes Arya roll her eyes and leave her alone.

“Don't know why he's back with her, she's toxic,” Arya continues “I thought you two would finally bone, but I guess not.”

“ _What_ ,” she turns from the mirror to look at Arya, who is _absolutely_ rolling her eyes (but not leaving).

“It's so annoying. _She's too young, she's Robb's little sister, I'm so sad and our love can never be, I'm Jon Snow, I'm such a martyr,_ ” Arya mimics and her Jon impression is so spot on it startles a laugh out of Sansa.

“Wait, so you'd be ok with...”

Arya's face softens for just a moment before she slips back into little sister mode, “I mean it's better than watching you two pine over each other. It's becoming _unbearable_ , we all think so.”

“ _All_?”

“Well, everyone but Robb. I can't tell if he doesn't _want_ to see it or if he's just dumb.”

Sansa turns back to her reflection with a wildly pounding heart.

She's _not_ crazy.

“Maybe lose the heels,” Arya muses, “we don't want Jon to _die_.”

They pick up Marg on the way to Robb's (Marg takes one look at her outfit, raises an eyebrow, and Sansa knows immediately that she's part of _we all think so_ ). When they get to the apartment, she does kind of regret the heels walking up three flights of stairs but that's washed away the minute she steps foot in the apartment and Jon's gaze sweeps her from head to toe with his drink frozen halfway to his lips.

She does her best to ignore him and talks to everyone else at the party (and discovers that the _we all think so_ crew also includes Theon, Gendry, Asha, Jeyne, Beth, and Hot Pie, somehow). Maybe she's being petty when she dances with one of Robb's friends from work. Maybe that's why she put on the costume in the first place, because she's petty (and, ok, yes, it _hurts_ to be rejected so thoroughly, to be ignored for _months_ after you kiss someone).

Jon and Ygritte don't look like they're having fun (Jon never looks like he's having fun with her, she's _all wrong_ for him) and it doesn't give Sansa a sense of satisfaction like she thought it might. Instead she's just sad and she finds herself on the balcony, shivering, because of course she didn't wear a jacket.

When a flannel settles over her shoulders, she turns to see Jon lean against the railing next to her. They stand in silence for a while.

“Even if you don't want me, you shouldn't be with _her._ ” It's not what she wanted to say, but it's true. Jon isn't happy with Ygritte, never has been.

He sighs and rubs a hand over his face but he doesn't argue. “Arya's already told me I'm an idiot.”

“She's not wrong.” He glowers at her and she never thought she'd be so happy to be frowned at.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” he asks after a bit. “I think we should talk.”

“Why can't we talk now?”

“Because I need to take Ygritte home and I can't have a proper conversation with you when you're wearing _that_.”

She blushes and he gives her a smile and he lets his eyes fall to the costume again, now half hidden under his flannel. He sighs and then heads inside and she has to stay on the balcony because now she's _very_ warm.

_Tomorrow._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really supposed to be taking a break from writing, but this was one of my favorites from the last round on tumblr and I wanted to continue it so...


	3. it's just a costume 3: revenge of the cat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok I was *not* going to write a third part, I blame all of the comments from last time asking for the day after convo (my lack of self control is in no way responsible, I am blameless)
> 
> I also decided to shoehorn it into the tumblr Halloween event, prompt: fear

The drive over might have been awkward if Marg weren't drunkenly singing Boyz II Men in the backseat (clashing horribly with the music that's actually on the radio). When they reach the apartment complex, Arya sighs and turns to look at her.

“You aren't drunk, right?”

“Right.”

“Ok, good. I can come pick you up later if you need but like, I don't want any details.”

“I do!” Marg shouts from the backseat, though they can hear her fine.

She's never been to Jon's apartment before, the complex looms over her as she stands on the sidewalk, Arya's car idling behind her. She knows Arya won't leave until she's in the building.

She's not sure how this happened and she takes a deep breath before heading inside. A text about meeting up tomorrow had turned into asking if he was coming back to the party after dropping Ygritte off had turned into a joke about needing to return his flannel had turned into him somehow inviting her over to talk. Or did she invite herself? (She might have invited herself, now that she thinks about it, but she had been so anxious in the hour after he left, the idea of waiting until tomorrow was unbearable.)

Jon's complex at least has an elevator, which she takes up to the sixth floor. As she heads down the hall, she can hear music thumping out of some of the other apartments and she realizes it's Halloween (midnight passed nearly an hour ago, it feels like this night has lasted forever). He answers at her first knock and she tries not to revel in the idea that he'd been waiting by the door for her.

Ghost winds around her legs and she's grateful for his presence because it seems like neither she nor Jon know what to say.

“You never called me,” is apparently how she chooses to start and she cringes at the accusing tone.

“You never called me, either,” his tone isn't defensive, he just sounds tired.

“I kissed you, I'm pretty sure I made myself clear.”

“Yeah, and then you ran away.”

Ran away? Yes, ok, she'd heard Robb and the rest of them coming back and _maybe_ she'd gotten away from Jon as quickly as she could so no one would know, but _ran_? She didn't... ok maybe she ran a bit, but not _ran_ ran.

There's something forming in the pit of her stomach, it feels a lot like frustration and she can feel tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. Her feet hurt from these stupid heels and she feels like an idiot standing in Jon's living room dressed like a cat while he's wearing a very casual sweatpants and henley combo. She doesn't want to cry here (though Jon's seen her cry a thousand times, he knows she cries at everything) and so she looks up at the ceiling to try and curb it, her cat ears starting to slide off her head at the movement.

She hears him sigh and he moves forward and when she looks back down, he gives her a little half smile and reaches up to take the skewed headband off. He takes her hand and pulls her over to the couch to sit and when she does, the tail on the dress bunches awkwardly behind her and she tries to shift and pull it sideways, like she does in the car. It keeps getting in the way and she eventually just unpins it in her frustration.

“Why did you bring her?” she finally asks after a bout of silence.

“I don't know,” he shrugs. “Robb told me you were coming, I thought you were staying at school this weekend. I panicked.”

“Am I that horrible?” she hates how petulant her voice is and he doesn't answer and she once again feels frustration boiling over. “I'm not crazy, I _know_ you like me too. I don't understand why you keep pretending you don't. The last time I wore this _stupid_ costume...”

“You were fifteen,” he cuts in. “You were fifteen and in high school and I felt like a creep. So I just... ignored you. Probably not my finest hour.”

“I'm not fifteen anymore,” she huffs and he laughs and rubs a hand over his face with a rueful smile.

“No, you aren't. The timing just never seemed right.”

“ _Timing_ ,” she seethes. “You're blaming this on _timing_.”

“You were in high school and then I was dating Val and then you started dating that frat guy.”

“Harry?”

“Yeah, the one with the real punchable face.”

“He did have a punchable face,” she agrees.

“Lots of big teeth just _begging_ to be knocked out.”

“Ok but you're single and I'm done with Harry and I _kissed you_ -”

“And then you ran away. I was afraid you regretted it.”

“So you invited Ygritte because you were afraid of me?”

“You're terrifying,” he shrugs but he's fighting off a smile and she scowls.

“That is the _dumbest_ -”

He starts to laugh and she frowns harder and he holds up his hands. “Sorry,” he tries to suppress his smile, “it's hard to take you seriously with the...” he gestures at her face and she remembers she still has a cat nose and whiskers drawn on. She tries to frown harder and that only makes him laugh again, a real laugh with that smile that crinkles up his eyes. She really likes that one.

When he finally stops laughing, his face grows serious again and he takes her hand in both of his.

“What I'm really afraid of is fucking up and losing you,” his eyes on hers and she almost forgets how to breathe. “That's my biggest fear, that I'll mess it all up. So if all I get is being friends with you, or just... existing in the same space as you, that's what I'll take.”

“You're a hypocrite, Jon Snow,” she sighs but there's no malice behind it. “Remember all those Halloweens when everyone else thought it was funny that I was scared? You'd always tell me that I was braver than I knew, that I shouldn't let fear stop me from doing what I wanted.”

(She wonders if he remembers, _she_ does- all those years she'd stubbornly participated in things she knew would scare her because she didn't want to be left out; how he'd hold her hand through the haunted houses, how he'd let her hide in his shoulder during the scary parts of movies, it's really no wonder she's been just a little bit in love with him her whole life.)

“So I guess the question is, _what do you want_?”

He doesn't hesitate as he leans forward and kisses her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the end, no more parts, I promise


End file.
